Mendocino County Biographies
John S. Kimball
Transcribed by: Pat Howard
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
Was born in Belfast, Waldo county, Maine, June 14, 1840, and
received his education in the common schools of that State. March 1, 1859, he
sailed from New York to California, coming via Panama, arriving in San Francisco
March 23d. He went at once to the mines in El Dorado county, and remained in
that and adjacent counties till the spring of 1862, when he returned of Maine,
where he remained till the fall of that year. He then returned to San Francisco,
and in the spring of 1863 came to Mendocino county, and was engaged as clerk for
L. E. White & Co. for two years at Albion In 1865 he began merchandising at
Salmon creek and Nevarra, associating with him Charles Wintzer. In 1870 he
established his present business at Cuffey�s Cove, in connection with F. W.
Welle. In 1873 he sold this interest and located at Bridgeport, where he
remained three years. He then returned to Cuffey�s Cove and purchased his former
business, and since remained there. He was married, in 1869, to Miss Helen N.
White, daughter of L. E. White, a native of New York. Their children are: Alice,
Helen, Charles and Dorsey.
SOURCE: History of Mendocino County, California - San Francisco, Cal. Alley,
Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1880 Pp. 546
JOHN SIMPSON KIMBALL.� In relating experiences of the early
days in Mendocino county (and few men have at their command more inter-
esting or thrilling tales of pioneer adventures in this section of the state), Mr.
Kimball forgets the passing of over fifty years and again becomes a youth,
filled with high hopes and seeking this timbered region for the purpose of
finding employment in connection with the great lumber industry. The men
he then met, the sturdy young fellows who worked by his side, the hardships
of existence on the then frontier in a region with few homes aside from the
omni-present logging camp, the coming of ships with supplies of food and
their departure laden with lumber and shingles, all of these made an indelible
impression upon his mind, and across the chasm of a half-century of success-
ful activities he looks back upon those days in Mendocino county with
pleasure untinged by any regret except that caused by the passing of many
of the comrades of those years of toil.
The early life of Mr. Kimball was passed in Maine, where he was born
in Belfast, Waldo county, June 14, 1838, a son of Charles C. Kimball, who
was interested in the lumbering, mercantile and shipping business. The son
had such advantages in schooling as the locality and period afforded. March
1, 1859. he left his early home to try his fortune in the California mines, and
on the 23d of the same month he landed at San Francisco after an uneventful
trip via Panama. For some years he mined in Eldorado county, but in the
spring of 1862 he returned to his old eastern home. The west had cast its
fascinating spell over him, however, and in the spring of 1863 he again came
to San Francisco, this time proceeding direct to Mendocino county, where
for two years he clerked in the Albion store of L. E. White & Co. During
1865 he took up mercantile pursuits at Salmon Creek and Navarro, associated
with Charles Winzer. In 1869 he was united in marriage with Miss Helen
N. White, a native of New York and a sister of L. E. White, long and promi-
nently connected with the lumber business. Five children blessed the union,
Alice, Charles, Helen, Daisy and Bessie.
With the opening of the year 1870 Mr. Kimball established a business
at Cuffey's Cove, where he had F. W. Welle as a partner, but in 1873 he
sold out his interests and removed to Bridgeport. Three years later he
returned to Cuffey's Cove and purchased his former business. Meanwhile
he had become actively engaged in ship-building along the coast. At Little
River, Mendocino county, he built the schooner Alice Kimball, and at Alameda
he later built a steamer bearing the same name. Along the coast in Mendo-
cino, Humboldt and Alameda counties, this state, as well as in the state of
Washington, he built twenty or more vessels, mostly steamers, for ocean
traffic, and he still has vast interests in the shipping and lumber lines, main-
taining an office in San Francisco, from which city he exercises a close super-
vision over the business developed by his personal sagacity and remarkable
efficiency. For more than thirty years in Mendocino county he had the
reputation of finding employment for every man who appealed to him, giving
them work in one of his camps or yards. Mr. Kimball was one of the pioneers
at Nome. In 1899 he sent one of his steamers to Nome with a cargo of general
merchandise and put up the first building there, a store in which he conducted
a merchandise business, and with his vessels he carried on a freighting and
passenger business. In 1899 he had two vessels in service and by 1900 he
had added two more. One was the passenger ship J. S. Kimball, having a
capacity of one thousand tons of freight and four hundred passengers, and
making monthly trips. Besides being the pioneer merchant and shipper in
Nome, Mr. Kimball was also interested in mining from the time that industry
was known on Seward Peninsula, and since then mining has occupied his
attention almost entirely. About 1909 he built the first dredge operating at
Council, on Nelson creek, later built another dredge, on Ophir creek, and a
third one on Shovel creek. Later a fourth dredge was built on Solomon river,
and a fifth one is now being built to be installed and operated on Shovel
creek, as well as a sixth one which will be located on Arctic creek. Mr. Kim-
ball and his son have large holdings on Yankee creek in Ophir district, tribu-
tary of the Yukon. All of the dredging is done in partnership with the son,
Charles E., who has become an experienced miner and gives his entire time
to the industry. It is the consensus of opinion among miners of the region
that the Kimballs, father and son, are the largest and most successful
operators in the dredging business. Mr. Kimball, Sr., attributes their success
to the careful mode of experting mines and also to their plans of operation.
Some ten years ago Mr. Kimball bought out the Alaska Commercial Com-
pany's interests in Nome, and still owns them, the holdings constituting
buildings, warehouse, store, cold storage plant, hotel and wharves. The
dredging operations are conducted under the name of the Flume Dredge
Company of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, of which Mr. Kimball and his son,
Charles E., are the owners. In 1899 Mr. Kimball chartered the steamer
Albion and under contract with the United States government he brought
over several cargoes of reindeer from Siberia, landing them at Seward Penin-
sula. They have since increased so that there are now probably twenty
thousand head in the peninsula. Charles E. Kimball has the record of
driving an automobile to the most northerly point ever reached. Mr. Kimball,
Sr., usually spends a part of the summer in Alaska. Since the latter part of
the '80s he has found it advantageous to maintain the city office, and for this
reason, as well as for the educational advantages thereby possible for his
children, he has made his home in Oakland through all of these years. He
has just completed and is now occupying a comfortable residence at No. 775
Kingston avenue. Occasional visits have kept him in touch with his old
friends in Mendocino and Humboldt counties, where his energy and capa-
bility, his warm heart and manly nature always have appealed to men in a
manly way.
History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California With Biographical Sketches
History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry Illustrated, Complete In
One Volume Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914
Transcribed by Peggy Hooper